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The End of San Fran's Progress

Art Agnos, one of the city's last remaining progressive hopes to confront incumbent Gavin Newsom in November's mayoral election, has determined San Francisco's become so twee a place that it's not worth his time and energy.

At SF Weekly, we take journalism seriously without getting stuffy about it, make sardonic wit and literary style weekly occurrences, and absolutely cherish political independence. We can inveigh against the Total Information Awareness mindset of the Bush administration, and then,...

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Gavin Newsom has earned a reputation as someone willing to make passionate statements about plans to fix up public housing, reform the civil service system, upgrade parks, or reduce homelessness, and then quickly turn away as if he'd never said anything at all.

San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom has released his proposed 2009-10 city budget, proclaiming it far better than doomsayers predicted and emphasizing how he minimized cuts to health and human services. But there's still plenty of pain in the proposal.

The city still has a higher per-capita rate of bicycle use than any major city in the U.S., and that number has been steadily rising in recent years, even as construction of new bike facilities has stalled. Yet there are still political barriers to overcome in a city where cars are the dominant transportation option -- and the first barrier is Mayor Gavin Newsom.

Mayor Gavin Newsom sees San Francisco as an aristocratic kingdom existing only in the realm of fantasy. He espouses employment in modern high-tech industries while allowing a return to the industrial age.

Last month, Mayor Gavin Newsom held a press conference at the upscale hot-dog restaurant Show Dogs, packed it with press and midlevel bureaucrats, showed up late, and then led an endless platitude-fest about his plans to promote jobs in San Francisco.

You might intuit Rep. Jackie Speier, the frosh congresswoman from the Peninsula, doesn't like her new job in Washington, D.C. - if, before her first full term is even up, her name is appearing in a poll for another elected office.

Knowledgeable sources say that the Physicians Organizing Committee is one of several Bay Area front groups set up to disguise a strange political cult. Although a representative for the committee denied the link, it has shared personnel with an alleged cult front group and received a grant from a nonprofit linked to the cult.

In addition to being a lifeline for needy disabled Californians, the state Department of Social Services' In-Home Supportive Services program is a cash cow for Democrats. The program's political status has made it a target for Republicans, who characterize it as a bastion of fraud and corruption, and thus ripe for $1.1 billion in cuts.